


Short 34 - Reunion

by stgjr



Series: "The Power of a Name" Series 3 - "Time Lord Penitent" [11]
Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra, Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005), Multi-Fandom
Genre: Crossover, Gen, Multiple Crossovers, Multiverse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-24
Updated: 2017-05-24
Packaged: 2018-11-04 05:42:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,219
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10984554
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stgjr/pseuds/stgjr
Summary: Our narrator makes a stop to visit old friends.





	Short 34 - Reunion

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally posted on December 15th, 2014.

One might ask where we were heading when we ended up on Korriban to aid Kerra Holt. Well, I shall gladly tell you.  
  
After we left that engagement I double-checked things and we arrived at my intended destination. Purple and blue-leaved flora decorated the river valley with color. Nearby a two-story home looked over the valley.  
  
Korra and Asami followed me out. Naga, again, was taking up the rear. I had proposed it. This was a safe place for her, after all.  
  
"Where are we?", Asami asked.  
  
"Somewhere special," I answered. "We're..."  
  
We were interrupted by a child emerging from the bushes on the path leading up to the house. The young girl had a light bronze complexion and striking green eyes. She didn't look a day over six, although she could have been a small seven or eight year old. She was wearing a simple blouse and skirt with frilly patterns on it. She looked at us intently. I smiled, knowing who she likely was, and knelt down. "Well hello there, sweetie."  
  
"I'm not a Sweetie," she insisted. "My name is Chrissy. And I'm a Jedi Princess."  
  
I raised my eyebrow. "A Jedi Princess?"  
  
"Uh huh," Chrissy said. "Because my mommy said I could be."  
  
"I'm sure she did," I said. "I'm here to see her. Can we..."  
  
Another little form, maybe a year younger, also emerged out of the brush. She was dressed similarly, but she had her dark hair cut shorter than the other girl's thicker brown hair and her skin was a bright green in complexion. Gray eyes looked up at me. "Hi. I'm Kari. Who are you?"  
  
"I'm a... friend," I answered.  
  
"I know 'cuz I see you in our mommies' pictures," the younger girl answered. "You're the Doctor. You're nice."  
  
I'm sure you can guess easily who we had come to visit. "I do try," I said to Kari. I looked to the others. "We're on Salnorra, by the way. And this is..."  
  
Before I could complete the sentence a figure came down around a bend in the path up ahead. "...dinner's almost ready, it's time for you to...." The woman looked at us and went silent.  
  
I smiled at her. "Hello, Cami."  
  
Camilla stared at me for a moment. She let out a laugh and suddenly rushed forward, throwing her arms around me in a tight hug. "Doctor! Oh Doctor, you're here. It's been so long!"  
  
"Too long, even for me," I said, meaning every bit of that.  
  
"It's so good to see you again!" Cami let go of the hug and looked to my side. "And you're traveling with Korra and Asami now?" She moved forward and hugged them in turn. "Hello, hello!"  
  
"It's good to see you again, Cami," Korra said.  
  
"Yes." Asami seemed to make their hug even tighter. "I was so worried about you and Jan."  
  
Cami nodded. "I'm just glad to see you all. Kari, Chrissy, this is Korra and Asami, your mommies' friends."  
  
"Hello Korra," Chrissy said.  
  
"Hello, Princess," Korra answered, smiling.  
  
"Can I have a ride on your animal?", she asked.  
  
"I want a ride too!", Kari insisted.  
  
Cami giggled. "I'm sure you both can, but only if you ask Korra politely!"  
  
"Please!", the two girls pleaded.  
  
Korra picked one up in each arm. "Sure! One right on Naga coming right up."  
  
And so we went up to the house, Naga taking up the rear with her precious riders.  
  
  
  
  
Janias had been putting the finishing touches on dinner when we arrived. She saw me and Asami come in after Camilla and her jaw dropped slightly. "Doctor! Asami!" She handed a tray to a server droid and rushed over to us, giving us each a warm embrace. I accepted it and couldn't keep the tears from my eyes. Seeing Jan and Cami again, seeing them so fit and well and happy and with this lovely family... it made me feel like I'd done something right. I had made so many mistakes...  
  
The girls ran in behind us, full of excitement. "Mommy Jan! Mommy Jan!" They went to Jan in hops, which they kept up. Kari was exploding with excitement and beat her sister to an explanation. "We got to ride a big furry thing! And it was fun and..."  
  
Korra joined us at this point. Janias noticed her and offered a hug as well. "It's good to see you all," she said. As they hugged I could see her expression change a little. "Korra, are you alright?"  
  
"Not so much anymore," she admitted.  
  
Jan finished the hug and looked to me. I could tell she was using her abilities to sense more closely than she had before. "I see you both could use some company," she said. "I'll have the server droids make more dinner and you can join us. And then we can talk."  
  
  
  
  
Much to the delight of Korra's Southern Water Tribe appetites, there was meat involved in the dinner, and it was a rather good series of dishes. Much to the dislike of the children, it also had a variety of vegetables, and Cami took the lead in making sure that the children ate them.  
  
"So, Christana and Karianas?", I asked. "Your sisters?"  
  
"Yes," Cami said, handing out another helping of greens to Kari. "We decided it was better if we had one first and then the other."  
  
"Reasonable," I said before taking another bite.  
  
"Actually..." Korra looked curiously at them. "How did you... I mean, I thought you had to have..."  
  
"The Doctor provided us with a kit from Layom Station," Janias answered, smiling as she cut off the clearly awkward end of the question.  
  
"I believe there was quite a bit of material in it," I remarked. "Are you going to give them any sisters?"  
  
"I want a baby sister!", Chrissy declared.  
  
"I want one too!", Kari added enthusiastically.  
  
Their mothers smiled at that. "We've thought about it. When they're a little older," Janias admitted.  
  
"Have names picked out yet?"  
  
"I want to name mine," Chrissy said, her words obscured by the mouthful of mashed vegetable she had in her mouth.  
  
"Chrissy, you know to not talk with your mouth full," Cami chided her. She looked at me with a bit of exasperation. "They're normally better behaved, they're just excited at getting to see you."  
  
"Oh, no complaints here," I said. "There's something endearing about how they're acting. Not that I imagine it's endearing for their mothers."  
  
That brought giggles from the, well, now older women. Asami finished a bite of food and asked, "So, do you have names picked out?"  
  
Jan and Cami looked at each other. "Well, yes." Jan smiled at them. "The top three names on our list are you two and Molly."  
  
Korra's cheeks turned a slight pink. "Oh, uh... well, that's...." She smiled sheepishly. "That would be great. I mean...."  
  
Her reaction brought more laughter to the table.  
  
  
  
  
After dinner came the Show of the Year.  
  
The little collapsible wooden theater sat in front of me in the chair I had taken for the show. A pile of hand puppets lay behind it and at my feet. In my hands I had two other puppets; one dressed as I once was without the tie, the other bearing a familiar long duster with a makeshift staff in one tiny puppet hand and a smaller stick in the other. I didn't copy the voice as well as I might have just for the ambiance of the show, but I still managed a fair approximation of an American baritone as I maneuvered that puppet's mouth to open and had it growl, "There's only one way to handle vampires, Doc! _Set them all on fire!_ "  
  
Giggles erupted from Jan and Cami. Asami provided her own. Their daughters started laughing, but even their laughter didn't compete with the sudden eruption of howling laughter from Korra. "That is so Harry!", she wheezed between bursts of laughter.  
  
I tried not to laugh at Korra laughing, but it was hard as I tried to portray myself replying, "Must you always set things on fire, Dresden?!" Spurts of chuckles erupted between each line as my discipline failed.  
  
I lowered the puppet of me down and replaced it with a bat-like Red Court vampire puppet. I brought it up and had it make a screech. "I am a Red Vampire! I will drink all of your blood!"  
  
My Harry puppet countered with "Can't do that when you're on fire!". I had the puppet extend the blasting rod hand and used my pinky to pull a cord that lowered a paper strip drawn up to look like fire, connecting the Harry puppet to the vampire puppet. I gave the vampire the appropriate shrieks and had it twist and turn its way off the side of the theater.  
  
"Mommy, does Harry really set everything on fire?", Kari asked Janias.  
  
Janias' mouth curved with a smirk. "No, not _everything_. Just a lot of things."  
  
I continued the show from there. Korra made a face at seeing _her_ puppet - although she did chime in with some lines when my impersonation didn't quite catch up to snuff - and the girls delighted in seeing my presentation of their mothers. I made the best lightsaber sounds I could manage as I showed my take on Jan slicing up vampires.  
  
"Did you really fight vampires with Harry and Korra, Momma?!", Chrissy asked as I was changing things on the theater for the next act.  
  
"I think the Doctor is taking some liberties," Janias mused, arms crossed and a wide smile on her face.  
  
"Yeah, we fought zombies the first time," Korra remarked.  
  
"What's a 'zombie'?", Kari asked.  
  
"You'll find out in the next act," I assured them.  
  
And so they did.  
  
  
  
  
It was becoming late. At the insistence of my prior Companions, we were getting the spare bedrooms in their spacious home. I went off to the TARDIS to bring it up to the property and to put things up. By the time I brought it back and returned to the house, I found that the girls were already in bed and that Korra and Asami had retired. Janias was waiting for me in the living room. "How are you doing, 'Doc'?", she asked.  
  
I sighed. "I see you've talked to them."  
  
Jan nodded. "I remember what it was like when you first took that name. Did you realize you'd forgotten your original name already?"  
  
"Subconsciously, perhaps," I answered quietly. "Not that I confirmed it until I spoke to Bob." I walked over to the couch and settled into it. "But I know now that I was a fool to take it."  
  
There was sympathy in her eyes. Jan pulled a chair up and sat in front of me. "I can sense the pain you're carrying now," she said. "Did things really go that badly for you after we left?"  
  
"Not immediately. Not entirely. I admit I was not in the best sorts."  
  
Jan nodded. "I had the feeling you were putting up a brave front when you dropped us off here."  
  
"Yes," I admitted.  
  
"Did you ever think of coming back to us into our future? To see if we had recovered and wanted to travel again?"  
  
I nodded. "But I knew... I knew it would be selfish. You and Cami had gone through so much. You deserved getting to settle down and enjoy your lives." I looked up. "Did you want me to come back?"  
  
Jan seemed to struggle for a moment with the answer. "I think I... started to miss it. Cami did too, a little. But when a year passed and you didn't return, well, we decided that this was your way of saying it was over for our traveling. And so we decided to have the girls."  
  
"Yes."  
  
Cami's voice came from the door. "So, what happened to you after we settled here?" She appeared there, clad in a similar nightrobe to Jan's, and went over to a seat.  
  
I took in a breath. "Oh, I... suffered a while. I hated being alone. Tried to get Abby to join me but she wasn't up for the full-time Companion thing. Then I remembered..."  
  
"...Katherine," Jan finished for me.  
  
"Yes." I felt a twinge of pain in my hearts. "I accelerated her birthdays. Going from one to the next. I was just so impatient. And then she turned eighteen and helped me assist Nerys and her comrades and... perhaps that did it. I saw what she had become there. I knew that my... nudging... had worked."  
  
"She joined you," Cami said softly. A small smile came to her face. "So you weren't alone again."  
  
"Yes," I said. "And we went off and... oh, she was brilliant. I showed her everything."  
  
"What happened?"  
  
I blinked in a futile attempt to keep back tears. "Her cousin. An assassin's bomb. It took her and her mother." I swallowed. "The same assassin she would have helped to pay for if I hadn't changed her life."  
  
And that... broke the dam. I explained everything. I explained the cold fury and the punishments I inflicted on her killers. I spoke of my desperate attempt to make a quantum duplicate of her with the same machine I'd used for the girls from MItakihara... and how that had disastrously backfired.  
  
And I told them about the Time Lord Triumphant.  
  
Jan's face tightened perceptibly as I went into that story. Everything she had feared for what I might do... and I had confirmed it. But she said nothing. She let me bring the story to its conclusion at Parakar. To my rejection of the Name of the Doctor. And to the pain that drove me into the fob watch and which would inevitably lead me to not respond to Korra's pleas for help.  
  
It was fairly late when I caught up to current times for them. "I wasn't there for her," I murmured. "I try to tell myself that I'm making up for it by letting her travel with me as she always wanted, that staying with her as she recovered was compensation... but it doesn't change the fact that I abandoned her. I abandoned everyone. I should have never put myself into the fob watch. I should have faced the pain. I would have been there for Korra...." I felt the tears stream down my face as I sobbed. The guilt was too much.  
  
I felt their arms embrace me gently. Jan and Cami, who had seen me at my vulnerable beginning, who had been there for me for so long... they took me into their arms and offered solace and forgiveness in equal portion. "It's okay," I heard Cami say softly, as if she were comforting one of her own children. "I'm just happy you're alive. That you're mending."  
  
"She's right," Janias added, her own voice softer than ever before. "It's over now. Things are better now. You're better. Just let it out."  
  
I had thought confronting my feelings of loss over Katherine when I was on Mogo had healed me. But... my wounds had run deeper. And here, having explained everything to them, to my original Companions, it had made me face that I hadn't let those wounds heal. They still bled within me. I had to heal them if I was to recover.  
  
I am ever so blessed that I have such good Companions capable of giving me that healing.  
  
  
  
  
The next day we stayed around. Cami spent the day doing what amounted to their day work - managing the investments that provided them a steady income - while the little ones enjoyed ice-sledding courtesy of Korra. We bobbed and weaved throughout the river valley on the ice she formed for the sled, shrieks of delight ringing in my ears from the girls enjoying a novel and fun experience.  
  
It was when we returned that Jan brought Korra and I into what passed as her meditation room. She put a hand on Korra's shoulder. "After everything that's happened to you... I want to help."  
  
"Everyone does," Korra answered quietly, her eyes lowered. "But it doesn't seem to work."  
  
"Some of it is going to be you, yes," Jan admitted. "But some of it is.... well, you may need someone who knows what it's like to have your freedom stripped from you and to have someone attack the very center of your self. The Sith did their very best to break me when I was a slave and the Borg just about crushed my mind in their Collective. Maybe those experiences can help you deal with yours."  
  
"Actually, I was wondering something," Korra said. "Before we came to see you, we helped a Jedi like you were. She used some kind of power to help me against one of those Sith. I mean, a spiritual power, and with mine we overcame his. Can you show me how that works?"  
  
Janias nodded. "It's the Light Side of the Force." She grinned slightly. "I admit I've never been the best at wielding it. It requires serenity and quiet in the spirit. Emotions and passion get in the way. And you know what I'm usually like."  
  
"But you can still show me?", Korra asked.  
  
Jan nodded. "I may not be a Jedi Master, but I can show you the basics."  
  
I left as they sat on the mat to begin meditating. I walked down the hall toward the main living room. Once there I was intercepted. A pair of gray eyes looked up at me. "Hello Kari," I said.  
  
"Can I ride in your magic box?", Kari asked. "'Cuz my mommies did and they said you went _everywhere_ and I want to see everywhere and..."  
  
I let out a breath and put a quiet smile on my face. "When you're older, young lady, we might see about it. It can be very dangerous out there, though."  
  
"I know, and that's why I'm also gonna be a Jedi like Mommy Jan."  
  
"Well, we shall see then, hrm? Just remember to be a good girl."  
  
"I am," Kari said. "Because Mommy Cami says only good girls get to ride in your box."  
  
"Yes," I said. "She is right about that."  
  
Inwardly, I admit I was quite fervently hoping little Kari had other things in mind when she actually reached that age. I was not intending to risk hurting her mothers by putting her in danger as well. But it is something I would have to leave for the future anyway.  
  
  
  
  
I hadn't intended the visit to last as long as it did. But a few days turned into a week very quickly. A second week came on top of that, before Korra and Jan put their work to the test. The little ones remained with Cami while the rest of us ventured into the valley. Janias pulled out her lightsaber and ignited it. I had to admit some pleasure at seeing she still used the purple crystal I'd put in it back in the day. Korra, clad in cortosis-weave practice armor with phrik gauntlets, took up a defensive stance. The bout was primarily power versus power even with that protection. Korra used Earthbending and Firebending primarily to try and hold Jan off as she weaved around, using the Force to chuck rocks and kinetic energy back in Korra's direction.  
  
Korra had been getting better at holding her ground. It was several minutes in before Jan made a sudden and rapid lunge toward her that, ordinarily, would have triggered an anxiety attack. I saw the signs of it forming in her expression.  
  
Just before Jan could tag her, Korra's expression relaxed. A subtle thrum of energy filled her and she deftly dodged to the side of the lunge, turning it into a counterattack with waterbending. A jet of water sprayed into Jan's back and sent her flying into the river. She got out of it, looking to shiver a little but smiling as she looked at Korra. "See?", she asked.  
  
"I..." Korra pulled the helmet off. A smile crossed her face. "I did it!"  
  
Asami applauded. "Congratulations, Korra!" I joined the applause. We ran up to Korra to give her supportive hugs.  
  
It made me want to kick myself, honestly. I'd never thought about how Jedi teachings might help Korra deal with that trauma. To... if not overcome it, to at least endure it.  
  
Our hug was broken up by a massive wall of water that knocked us all down. We looked up, soaking wet, to see where Jan had used the Force to send the water at us. She smiled, smirking, in that way she always did at letting her mischievous side out to play.  
  
"Really?" Korra grinned wickedly and made a kicking motion. An even higher wall of water erupted and deluged Janias, sending her into the river.  
  
I sighed. With this lot around, snowball fights and the like were almost impossible to avoid.  
  
I have to admit, though, that the confused and bewildered look on Cami's face when we returned to the house dripping wet was _priceless_.  
  
  
  
  
Our visit had come to a natural conclusion. The happy couple and their daughters were due for a vacation off world, a lovely Mid Rim planet called Kaliad and some tropical islands there. Their private starship was being fueled and readied while we gathered at the TARDIS to leave. "Thank you so much," Korra said to Jan. "You've been a wonderful teacher."  
  
"And you're a great student," Jan answered. "Besides, it was good to just see you two again. Take care of yourselves when you go back to Republic City, okay?"  
  
"We will," Asami assured her, giving her a hug as well.  
  
"When do we get to see your home?", Chrissy asked Asami. "Because Mommy Cami says it's bigger than ours. And that's hard."  
  
Asami gave me a bemused look. "We'll have to arrange it, I guess."  
  
"We'll see," I said, making no further promises.  
  
"Be careful out there, Korra," Cami urged.  
  
"I'll try."  
  
"And come back so we can go sledding again!" Kari urged.  
  
"Or you can come to us," Korra said. "You should come during the Glacier Spirits Festival. They have rides and games and all kinds of fried food on sticks."  
  
"Rides!", Kari squealed.  
  
"Games!", Chrissy added.  
  
While the girls clamored for more information, I joined Jan and Cami a short distance away at their urging. "It's been so good to see you again," Cami said.  
  
"The same for me," I answered. I put a hand on each of them. "It eases my hearts to know you're doing so well and have such a wonderful family together."  
  
"Before you go..." With a nod from Jan, Cami took my hand. "Giving that name up when it was your only identity hurts you. And I know it scares you to think of taking it back for any reason." She put her other hand on my face. "But it's not your name that's important. It's who you are. And you're the same man who saved us from that Sith slave station and took us out into Creation. Whatever your name, deep down... you're a friendly man who hates to see people suffer and will do anything to end their suffering. That hasn't changed and I don't think it's ever going to. Whether you're the Doctor or not."  
  
Warm tears poured down my cheeks as she said those words. "Thank you," I replied gently. "Thank you very much for that, Cami." I put my arms around her in another hug. "I'll try not to stay away this time. Birthdays, at least?"  
  
"You'd better," she said back.  
  
" _All_ of them," Jan added, tears in her eyes as well. "The girls adore you."  
  
"And I them," I answered, giving Jan a strong hug as well.  
  
"Don't forget that you're a member of this family too," Jan urged. "Don't ever forget that. Come here if you ever need us."  
  
"I will." With emotion threatening to choke me, I added more hugs just to feel them. Being with Jan and Cami again reminded me of those early days, those early trips in the various cosmoses. Before it all went wrong. I _missed_ those days. Being with them had at least brought back some of that feeling. "I need to fix something." I reached into my jacket and brought out a temporal beacon, which I handed to Cami. "I should have left one before, but I was afraid you would see it as a way for me to guilt you into calling me to take you away again."  
  
"We might have," Cami admitted.  
  
"But I was wrong to not trust you. So here. If you ever need me. Or if you just want to remind me about those birthdays." I winked at them.  
  
We returned to the TARDIS door where they stayed just outside of it. Korra and Asami flanked the controls where I joined them, inputting a new destination as they watched through the open door. When I was ready I put a hand on the control lever and looked up at them.  
  
Jan and Cami looked at each other, smiling. "Tally ho!", they cried in unison.  
  
I laughed. "Tally ho indeed!" I snapped my fingers and pulled the lever.  
  
And off we went, with glad hearts and eased minds.


End file.
